Beeman Commission Delivers Recommendations

News Highlights

Josiah H. Beeman Commission recommends transforming the mental health
system for improved outcomes, increased independence and better lives
for people with mental illnesses.

Recovery and resilience are central to the recommendations.
Recovery is a process that enables persons with mental illness to
regain hope in their future, manage their lives and exercise authority
over what happens to them.

Many of the recommendations can be implemented using existing
resources.

Recommendations can be found at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/beemancommission.

More Information

Fairfax County must help people recover from mental illness, not just
treat its symptoms, said a commission that looked at its mental health
care system. The result will be increased mental health for people
who are ill, less dependence on the system and better outcomes for
taxpayers.

The recommendations came from the Josiah H. Beeman Commission,
which was created to suggest improvements to the county’s mental
health care system. The commission spent almost two years studying
the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB), which provides
mental health care for the county and the cities of Fairfax and Falls
Church. The recommendations can be found on the Beeman Commission page.

The focus on recovery and resilience will mean major changes in how the
CSB operates. The commission proposed changes to the public agency’s
services, funding, and management. It said the CSB should help people
meet their basic everyday needs, pursue additional federal funds and use
treatments based on the latest research.

In addition to case management and standard treatments, the CSB also
must help people with mental illness get jobs, housing, education and
health care. Research shows that jobs, housing and education promote
recovery from mental illness. These findings are borne out by other
states across the nation. In one such study in Connecticut, employment
and housing cut the cost for inpatient care by 70 percent in that system.
These services are also critical because nearly 60 percent of people
served by the CSB fall below the federal poverty line.

The mental health care system also must seek increased federal
reimbursement for its services. While 67 percent of its funding comes
from the county, the CSB can do more to capture available federal
dollars. Only a third of adults receiving services from the CSB are
enrolled in Medicaid compared to 50 percent statewide. The agency should
meet or exceed this statewide figure, and it should seek money from other
state and federal programs, such as the Comprehensive Services Act and
the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Commissioners believe that many of their recommendations can be made
without additional money from Fairfax County.

Recovery isn’t a new idea in mental health care. Other localities and
states have focused their systems on this principle, including
Connecticut, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah. In 2003, a presidential
commission also called for mental health systems nationwide to become
recovery oriented.

Recovery is a process that enables persons with mental illness to
regain hope in their future, manage their lives and exercise authority
over what happens to them. The concepts of recovery and resilience
are central to the commission’s recommendations.

Overall, the commission proposed changes in seven main areas: leadership
and governance; fiscal management; prevention and early intervention;
services and supports; work force and training; data and outcomes; and
technology.

These recommendations were presented to the Fairfax County Board of
Supervisors Human Services Committee yesterday. The recommendations will
be delivered to the entire board for its approval later this fall.

For more information about the commission or its recommendations, call
the Office of Public Affairs at 703-324-3187, TTY 711.